Aston Martin’s significant advancement
Aston Martin was saddled with a painfully slow and difficult-to-drive vehicle in the early phases of the previous season. Having committed early last year to build a wholly new model for 2023, they have found nearly two seconds of track time, an unprecedented gain in modern F1.
At the Sakhir circuit, this gave them a tremendous advantage over the competition. Fernando Alonso led the practice times and qualified fifth to beat both Mercedes drivers. Lance Stroll, who was driving with a fractured wrist, finished eighth on the grid. In Sunday’s race, the Spaniard was unstoppable, climbing from seventh to third in the second-fastest car behind the Red Bulls.
Their success will be difficult to watch at Mercedes, but even more so at midfield rivals McLaren and Alpine, who have been striving for a similar advancement for a much longer time and with larger budgets. Mike Krack, the team’s principal, has supervised a remarkable transformation, and with a new factory and wind tunnel facility coming online at Silverstone this year, it is anticipated that Aston Martin will become even more formidable.
Alonso still has a chance to win this year if he has excellent luck and the wind at his back. After his performance in Bahrain, it is highly unlikely that he will retire shortly.
Mercedes raises their palms
Mercedes was hesitant about their prospects for a swift comeback this season. They acknowledged they made a mistake in 2022, cautioning that this year’s car was not quite where they intended it to be but expressing confidence that they would eventually realize its full potential. They were unaware that Aston Martin had past them and that the gap with Red Bull had increased.
Toto Wolff, the team’s principal, admitted they made a mistake and were changing the car’s idea. A radical step and an acknowledgment that drastic action was required to salvage the season. “We made a mistake last year. We believed we could repair it while maintaining this car’s concept, but it didn’t work out,” he said. Therefore, we must shift our focus to what we believe to be the correct direction and what we are lacking.
Lewis Hamilton’s assessment was unquestionably sincere and excruciatingly blunt, particularly considering he had labored in last year’s beastly car. “We’re just on the incorrect path,” he said. We’re far behind the men in front of us. The gap wasn’t as wide as it is now, but there was excellent progress made last year.
The car lacks downforce, and while another concept is being tested in the wind tunnel. Wolff has conceded that any prospects Hamilton had of contending for his eighth championship this year have been dashed. Mercedes’s ability to adapt under pressure will be tested during another tough season of chasing the frontrunners.
Red Bull has wings.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez nailed a rock-solid one-two on the grid and then the race, putting an end to the speculation that Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso might cast a hugely entertaining wrench into the works during qualifying. It was confirmed with absolute certainty that Red Bull is the product to beat. Verstappen had a six-tenths-per-lap advantage over his teammate and Charles Leclerc in the early phases of the race, proving that their car was consistently faster in race pace than it was the year before.
It is not remarkable that the RB19 has maintained its advantage, as it is an evolution of the strengths carried over from last year’s car, and Verstappen was able to exploit it with ease from the front of the field. It is once again quick in a straight line and formidable through the corners, exhibiting a fine, comfortable balance that is particularly in Verstappen’s sweet spot.
With their wind tunnel limitations, it could be argued that they will not be able to develop it as aggressively as Ferrari and Aston Martin, but with a platform that is so fundamentally powerful, they probably already have enough of an advantage. Verstappen exuded confidence and comfort all weekend, a champion confident that his title defense could not have gotten off to a better start.
Ferrari must find time
The Ferrari hoped to keep Red Bull honest in this season-opening race on a track that didn’t suit their car. In qualifying, Leclerc kept Verstappen within a tenth on their first runs. But the race was a different tale, just as it was the previous year. Before Ferrari’s other perennial issue, a power unit failure terminated his race, Leclerc claimed that the Ferrari was approximately one second per lap slower than the Red Bull.
After receiving two body strikes on the same day, he was unsurprisingly depressed. “I cannot say it feels pleasant,” he said. “There was a considerable amount of work on [the power unit]. But we must continue to work because the first race and the first reliability issue were not acceptable. Being one second behind the leader, which is not confidence, I was as confident as I could be.”
Fred Vasseur’s honeymoon is over, but supporters seeking solace can take solace in the fact that he was defiantly optimistic despite the pace of the first lap. “I’ve never seen a car be able to match another car’s qualifying speed but then fall short during the race,” he said. “Then it is a matter of configuration and some options on the car. We must comprehend what we are doing well and return the following time strengthened.”
Ferrari has prioritized straight-line speed this season, which will serve them well on the lengthy straights at the next race in Saudi Arabia, but they still have a significant gap to close.
F1 needs a better fight
Riding a global popularity rise F1 hoped that the new regulations introduced last year would improve competition. In some ways, they have narrowed the disparity between teams on the grid. But as is typical with new regulations, one team has emerged miles ahead. Red Bull won the previous season, and they have maintained their lead.
The fact that Ferrari and Mercedes have not shut them down is incredibly disappointing and will make F1’s executives a little uneasy. Selling the sport to new fans when Verstappen appears to be in a position to win the championship in a one-horse race is not optimal.
Mercedes has dominated the sport in recent years. But they did not have such a significant advantage until the beginning of the hybrid era from 2014 to 2016. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton engaged in a ferocious intra-team battle for two of those three years, sustaining fan interest.
There is no indication that Pérez can even approach Verstappen’s speed. The final margin between them was 12 seconds. But it could have been twice as large if Verstappen had not slowed down. Alonso’s comeback undoubtedly enlivens the proceedings. But it is unlikely to have lasting appeal to the new Netflix generation, as F1 executives are well aware.
